Jain Journal 2006 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 19

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without a carmacakra flanked by stags being shown on the pedestal3 Attention may also be drawn to the Cakra-ratna which is attributed to the Jain Cakravartin as his symbol as well as weapon. The representation of the Cakra in Jain art can be traced back as early as the first few centuries of the Christain era. The votive tablets, the Avagapatas, belonging to the Kuṣaṇā period unearthed from the Kankali Tila at Mathura contain the figures of the cakra as a surmounting capital of the pillar which flanks the central quadrangle containing four śrīvatsa symbols in floral setup on the four corners with four triratna representations at the four cardinal points touching an inner-most circle containing image of a Jina in meditation pose (see, fig. 71, pl. XIX-History of Indian and Indonesian Art by A.K. Comaraswamy). The cakra forms the central object surrounded by decorations in another Ayāgāpaṭa from the same place (No. J. 248Mathura Museum)40. It is a ṣoḍaśāra Dharmacakra with sixteen spokes surrounded by three concentric bands, the first band consisting of sixteen Nandipada symbols. The tablet can very well be placed in the Kuṣāņa period. Late in the Gupta period from the Vaibharagiri at Rajgir we have a unique sculpture of a Tīthankara Neminatha showing the Dharmacakra on the pedestal flanked by a pair of conch-shells. Here the cakra is personified and cakra as the cakra-puruşa is represented with an anthopomorphic form attached to the cakra itself. (see PL TK Fig 16). This is perhaps the influence of the Brahmanic convention of showing the Ayudha-purușas in Vaisnava sculptures e.g., Gadādevī and cakra-puruşa.
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JAIN JOURNAL VOL-XL. NO. 4 APRIL. 2006
Thakkura Feru: Vatthusarapayaraṇam
cakkadhari Garuḍankā tassāhe Dhamma-cakka-ubhayadisam hariņajuam ramaniyam gaddiyamajjhammi Jinacihnamu II. 28.
Vide, T.N. Rama Chandran, Tiruparuttikunram and its Temples. p. 220, Also, Triṣaṣṭisalākāpurusacaritra, Bk. 1, ch. 1 v. 810; also Thāṇāngasūtra, VIII etc.